"But how will you reach Boston without a horse or money?"
Walter hesitated. By returning to Portsmouth he could get the animal which McCleary had proposed he should ride, and yet to do so would delay him greatly, in addition to the possibility of arousing suspicion against his friend.
By leaving the main road six miles farther on, and striking across a tract of wooded country, the distance could be reduced materially; but even then there would remain at least fifty miles to be traversed.
"I can walk to Salem," he said, at length; "and there, William Cotton will provide me with a horse."
"It is a desperate journey, and dangerous, if some should learn why you had undertaken it. I—"
"You would not bid me stay, mother, but rather urge me forward. I have no time to lose."
"You will at least wait until I can put up some food."
"Yes; it will be necessary to eat, I suppose. Bread and cheese will be enough, and even that must be got together quickly."
Mrs. Neal made no attempt to dissuade her son from his purpose. That which he had said concerning his father had been sufficient to silence her on the score of danger; and, when the small store of provisions were wrapped in a stout piece of cloth and placed in the pocket of his coat, she kissed him, but did not dare trust her voice to speak.
With a stout hickory stick as a walking-cane, Walter set out, and there was sufficient in his mind to provide ample food for thought during the first two hours of the journey. He was not at all certain that, now that the cost of making an attachment of his property was to be added to the amount of his tax, Ephraim Foulsham would be willing to advance the money; and, even if the sum could be raised in such a manner, it was so much increased that he could not hope to see the wished-for mill under erection until another season at the earliest.